Month: March 2017

The rain from heaven has finally arrived in my little corner of the world. Hurray! Hurray! Hip Hip Hurray! This has been one very long dry spell as I have experienced the sun in all her glory.

I must spare a thought for my fellow countrymen and women who are suffering because of the drought that continues to ravage various parts of Kenya. I am perfectly aware that this is hard and difficult for many many people. May the rain bring relief on our parched land.

The rain brings relief to every person around as it brings growth and new life. I am happy that the rain is back because of one major commodity- water.

The water issues in Nairobi have been a thorn in many households. I considered changing houses, to estates, to cities just incase my woes with water would end. First came the ominous announcement in January that the commodity will remain rare till after March, next came the laughing water vendors praying that the rains never come so that they can make money, then came the residential flat wars of the survival for the fittest in view of this precious commodity. This is a story for another day…

It had been 4 long months since the threat became a reality and I thank God that the rains are here.

The dust of the earth has been a constant reminder of our mortality as I walked the dusty Kasarani streets. No matter how smart or well oiled one was, the dust was a permanent feature on shoes, clothes and the house. The rain washes all these away and brings freshness and peace in a waterless concrete jungle that we have lived in. Rain brings with it spring and spring is a season of new life, birth and a sign of our immortality.

Thank you Heavenly Father for the blessing of rain. Thank you for answering our prayers. Tomorrow I will walk in the early morning air with my daughter breathing in fresh air…after the drought bring on the rain Lord! Let it rain, Let it rain, Let it rain. In Jesus Name. Amen

The decision to become a stay home mom was not a one-day decision for me.

It was an idea that grew with me as a result of my childhood experience of being raised by busy and overwhelmed parents. They constantly struggled with having to split their time between their business and us.

I decided that when I grew up I would be available to the ones I care about most – my children and husband

Today, I have been stay home mum for the last 10 years and I still love it

Here are my reasons:

My children are below 15 years of age. They are very young and still need a lot of parental support and guidance. I chose to have them.

My children are therefore my responsibility. I want to have to minimize regrets in the future.

Over time, I have appreciated the fact that your family could be the most available and dependable people, yet it could be one of the most easily abused pillar(s) of society.

Hurting your family is equivalent to abuse because this results from a lack of understanding as to why God gifted us with such lovely and dependable people. How you handle them could be a source of a blessing or a curse.

How do you handle yours?

This is how you hurt them knowingly or unknowingly;

You don’t prioritize them at all!

You imagine that they understand that you are always busy and that they don’t feel bad when you don’t spare time for them.

You think they don’t need you!

I mean, you have grown up with them! Like, 20 years+. Wasn’t that like enough time, you ask, No it wasn’t! Time with family is never enough!

I am an avid reader of blogs and articles by Christian women and mothers on the topic of Stay at Home (SAH). I doubt that there is a silver bullet when it comes to tackling this scenario especially when you are in the throes of it either as one about to plunge in, one who has plunged in or one who is about to plunge out.

Like any decision you must take, as a Christian, one must pray for peace in the matter. A peace that surpasses all understanding –I must add (Philippians 4:7). This is because it is going to be a nerve wracking scenario to be in whichever way you chose. When praying as a woman one must have before them their roles in society but also their hopes and dreams in tow. God created women different from men and with specific roles irrespective of whether you are SAH, working in and out of the house mom or whatever else you are at now. Yet God not only put in you stuff (read gifts, abilities, talents and ideas) for only your kids and family, He also put in a lot else for the community and your sphere of influence.

These are tough decisions with pros and cons for each scenario, there are losses and gains yet one needs to consider all these in a healthy balance and in view of God’s will for them at the time. This calls for trust in the Lord and less focus on your very brilliant ideas-just plain trusting even in the midst of your most genius idea (Proverbs 3:5-6).

As a SAH for the last 7 months, there have been surprising things that I have come across, some normal everyday doldrums and some downright annoying things. All these keep the days busy, fun, tiring, disappointing, overwhelming, fresh and pretty much normal. But everyday, I must remember that whether I am SAH or not, God will require of me to give an account of what I did with my life and that life for now is SAH.

Prayer: Lord Help my days in this amazing season count. In Jesus Name. Amen

Have you ever got to a point in your life when this statement by Jesus rang true? So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting”. Mark 9:29.

Jesus who had earlier prayed and spent time alone before sending the disciples to a ready harvest was now going to teach them a new lesson. That victories over evil are not a walk in the park.

I have earlier on in my Christian walk often wondered why God allows difficult moments to follow us, interrupt our cosy lives…why is the highway to heaven more like a difficult ride on some of our rural roads?

Why must it be a fight to the death?

Well if we call ourselves followers of Jesus, we cannot choose the curriculum, but we can choose our attitude in facing every test or query. You will note with joy that at the beginning of the ministry, we meet Jesus leaving the Jordan after cousin John has baptized Him and was led (not His will) by the Spirit in to the desert to be tempted by the devil. He went there armed with prayer and fasting. You can read Luke 4:1-2.

Imagine knowing what kind of death you will die, how, by whose hand, and the number of days to the very day. Yet Jesus’ death was not ordinary, it was to achieve eternal salvation for ALL mankind. The weight was heavy. Now imagine in addition to that your arch enemy, a rebel you created and know too well, will be there to try and dissuade you because of the humanity (read weakness of body/flesh) you have adorned.

Prayer aligns our will to God…the body will kick and fight but it MUST comply…because the cause is great and the battle must be fought. Fasting subdues the body so that it does not speak above the voice of God. Fasting emboldens us against temptation. When we like Jesus our forerunner in Matthew 4:10-11 said to Satan “Away from me, Satan!” and we remind him what God says in His word…by reading it of course; then in our hour of great trouble, the angels will be sent by the Father to attend to us.

There are few things that God asks us to try Him and see…Prayer and fasting is one of them. Try Him and see, do not manipulate, Listen Listen, Be Alert, Perceive, for God speaks and acts!

Fast and Pray Today…am sure there is something heavy or light bothering you

I ended the year 2016 on a good note-tired but grateful to God. I was looking forward to a quiet year to enjoy restfully what God has given.

My 2017 dream of a quiet year has been anything but normal, peaceful and organized. I have encountered several difficult moments in my life and of people I love or just know that have taken the wind from my lungs and in my wings. I have just let go to be sheltered by the Lord because I cannot on my own.

The situations that I have encountered have made me long for Jesus to speak the words… Lazarus come forth! To undo the work of sin in us and in creation. To remove shame and bring honour. To restore the broken walls and help the participants to rebuild them. I need the resurrection power and nothing less for the situations I have seen this year.

I know some Lazarus’s in my life and the situations I have seen will not return to us because death has happened… But even then there is hope for a new beginning of those that are left. I would like to be part of that good work as His wills.

Then there are those who I know must slowly pick up and rebuild their lives, where disease and the evil one had claimed a stake but because of community, they are saved.

Then there are those that am telling God, this situation is messy, decayed it is potentially dead. But you are the Lord of the resurrection… Jesus the mighty restorer… You can chart a new way or make all things new.

So I wait, I pray, I cry, I pout, I think, I rely on the Lord who beat sin 10-nil. To help me wait and wait well.

In the meantime be blessed by the lyrics of this song by Elevation Worship “Raised to Life”. http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/elevationworship/raisedtolife.html